Sabbatical Report by Lance Christiansen Principal Rangitikei College, Marton PROJECT Creative Curriculum in Smaller Secondary Schools My brief was to investigate what creative curriculums are being developed in small secondary schools like Rangitikei College (333 students) and how smaller Colleges (less than 600 students) are able to give students good educational outcomes with their current resources. I developed a survey (Appendix A) which was sent out to 50 schools throughout New Zealand. I was delighted to receive 41 responses from schools across the North and South Islands. This data was collated and the responses recorded below. I appreciated the responses and the time taken by busy Principals to complete the survey and also their offer to host me on visits which I was to undertake as part of the sabbatical. During my sabbatical I was also able to gather information relating to areas of good practice and exciting initiatives which is such a strong feature of small secondary schools in New Zealand. Thank you to those schools and Principals who gave their time so freely during my visits. (Appendix C) A special thank you to Amanda Win my PA who worked very hard on my behalf to ensure the systems were in place and saved me so much time when undertaking this sabbatical. And also thank you to my BOT and SMT for being so supportive and encouraging of my sabbatical project during Term Two 2011. The first part of my report is based on the preliminary data collected from schools who replied to my initial survey (Appendix B). This data was gathered to give an overview of what different types of schools I was surveying and how they were managing under the current funding regime to offer their current curriculums. As the responses are recorded in more detail, I have also added my observations from school visits undertaken during my sabbatical. 1 Type, Size and Decile Rating of Responding Schools School Size Number of Schools 100 – 200 3 200 – 300 13 300 – 400 9 400 > 16 Total Surveyed 41 Size and Decile Rating Decile Decile Decile Decile Decile Decile Decile Decile Size of School 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 100 - 200 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 200 - 300 0 2 3 2 2 0 3 0 300 - 400 1 2 1 3 1 1 0 1 400 > 1 3 2 4 0 5 0 1 Type of School Type of School Number Y1 - Y13 3 Y7 – Y13 17 Y9 - Y13 21 Timetable Structure Timetable Structure Numbers 5 Day 27 6 Day 7 10 Day 7 2 Vicinity of Other Secondary Schools The vicinity to other secondary providers often influences what is offered at schools as well as how they spend their money. Schools were asked to identify if they had other secondary schools within close vicinity ie 20km of them, or within a wider range up to 70km away. Closeness of Nearest Secondary School Yes No <20 Km 21 20 20 – 70Km 40 1 Do You Employ More Staff Than GMFS (Guaranteed Minimum Funded Staffing) Provides? Yes – 51% or 21 Schools No – 49% or 20 Schools YES – We do you employ more teaching staff than GMFS provides: • Maintaining the curriculum breadth for senior school. We have a top-heavy senior school placing additional strain on staffing. • My predecessor did – that is why we were in financial trouble when I started. We do use excellent Learning Assistants, creatively using LAT’s. • Learning Support – Gifted and Talented and SENCO referral programme. • To ensure smaller classes at Year 9 and 10. • Externally funded. • To ensure that we can offer subjects eg Level 3 NCEA despite small class numbers. • Increase options. • Trialing a new Year 9 and 10 mode of delivery. • To keep class sizes down and provide extra non-contact time to staff. • To maintain reasonable class sizes and to run programmes which would not otherwise be economic to do so. • We can offer a broader curriculum – funded by fee-paying students. • We do so in increments ie ·1 or ·2 over our GMFS – we are never exactly to our GMFS because we have to be inventive to cover the additional staging required to look after literacy, Ae units, Special Needs, Te Kotahitanga, PRT’s – although they come with their 3 own funding, it is never enough to cover the teacher/person involved. Often funding reduces, though the workload does not. I have staff wearing several hats. • Money from Gateway is used as I was expecting a bigger role. • To deliver the necessary range of subjects. • The need to offer options in the senior school, but also a gamble in that our March 1st return would be greater than our GMFS (it is). • To provide additional programmes. • To cover our International Student Programme. • Keep junior option choices, keep class sizes small. • To be able to offer classes at Level, eg History, Calc, Chem, Stats etc. We have 8 Level 3 classes which currently have student numbers below 8. • To provide the following; greater curriculum choice ie senior Physics/Chemistry, smaller junior classes we also have international students. Over half of the schools surveyed employed more teaching staff than their GMFS says they are entitled to. This is generally seen as a necessity for most schools as it means that they are able to offer a broader curriculum to their students, which is highly commendable. The concern is based around how they are able to fund this and for how long. As can be seen from the responses above, schools find money to pay for this from different sources and from discussions with Principals they will continue to do so to offer the best deal for their students. MOE Initiatives Schools were asked to identify which MOE initiatives they were involved in and also if they had other initiatives which they were using. All schools were involved in using STAR and Gateway. The Youth Apprenticeship Scheme was a part of 4 schools and Trade Academies were found in 5 schools. Other MOE initiatives undertaken by schools included He Kakano, Te Kotahitanga, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) and three had attached Alterative Education Programmes. Schools involved in various MOE initiatives all appreciated their involvement in programmes as it helped them give better service to all their students. The schools I spoke to were all very much aware of the need to support their less academic students and programmes such as STAR and Gateway were well used and successful. The Principals spoken to were concerned that after the initial support some of the initiatives were difficult to sustain due to increased costs on finances once any MOE support is removed. Sustainability is generally an expected outcome from MOE initiatives but the lack of ongoing funding has created some issues. Schools often endeavour to use additional funding from sponsorship/Community Grants or international students to continue successful programmes that are no longer funded by the MOE. 4 School Academies Several schools also have their own Academies and in general these are, not surprisingly, based around their environments and/or major industries. Some use New Zealand’s wonderful adventure back yard such as the mountains and the coast and have formed Outdoor Education Academies. More rural areas have established Academies in Forestry, Horticulture, Farming, Primary Industry and Services. Sport Academies are another popular choice for schools and students. Interestingly a few schools have Military Academies. From my school visits it was clear that local environments were used well by schools to give their students experiences and opportunities unique to their area. These were split into two main areas, one for local industries and one for Outdoor Education opportunities. Several schools contacted and visited e.g. Cromwell HS and Kaikoura HS, had developed close links with local businesses and /or industries, making use of areas such as horticulture, agriculture and local tourism to provide specialised learning opportunities for their students. Some schools, such as South Otago High School through Telford, and Cromwell High School through links to Central Otago Polytech, were able to tap into the expertise of tertiary institutions in their small towns to enhance programmes offered within their schools. Outdoor Education opportunities were used by a number of schools where they had a unique local environment. Again some schools linked into local expertise available in their particular environments such as skiing, rowing, sailing and general outdoor activities. Several of the schools used these opportunities to attract students from outside their local area to their schools. This included students from within New Zealand and from overseas. For some of the schools visited this was also important in attracting more senior students and hence being able to offer more senior subjects within their school, as the increased numbers made subjects more viable. Schools also tended to operate a slightly different timetable for some Academies. The most common means of getting the most from their Academies was to use weekends for some activities. This enabled students to maintain as much of a ‘normal’ school programme as possible so their ongoing learning does not suffer. From discussions with schools that offer Academies it seems they fulfill a number of roles within schools. The most important is that they meet the needs of students in their future aspirations. They also serve as a means of retaining and gaining senior students within their schools, with the associated benefits to staffing and funding. Academies often run double periods or full day options, which allows greater flexibility and opportunities for learning. 5 Use of Video Conferencing and Correspondence School Video Conferencing Correspondence School Yes 33 35 No 8 6 Most the schools I contacted used Video Conferencing as part of their normal programmes in schools.